NFL Sunday Ticket goes to YouTube in $2 billion deal

The National Football League announced Thursday its Sunday Ticket subscription package would go to Google's YouTube TV starting next season, marking the league's second media rights deal with a streaming service.

YouTube TV will pay roughly $2 billion a year for the rights of the Sunday Ticket package, according to people familiar with the matter.

At the start of the 2023-24 season, Sunday Ticket will be available two ways: as an add-on package on YouTube TV and as a standalone a-la-carte option on YouTube Primetime Channels, which allows you to subscribe to individual streaming services and channels as well as watch movies. Pricing has yet to be announced.

DirecTV has had the rights to Sunday Ticket since 1994, paying $1.5 billion annually for them since the last renewal in 2014. It didn't place a bid to keep its contract going. Still, the satellite-TV provider had been open to still offering the games for commercial establishments, such as bars and restaurants, similar to its agreement with Amazon for "Thursday Night Football," according to people familiar with the matter.

A U.S.-only product, Sunday Ticket is the only way fans can watch live NFL Sunday afternoon games outside of their local markets on broadcast stations CBS and Fox.

It's the last NFL package to land a media rights renewal. Last year, Paramount's CBS, Fox and Comcast's NBC agreed to pay more than $2 billion annually for 11-year packages, while Disney is paying about $2.7 billion per year for Monday Night Football, CNBC previously reported.

Amazon secured the rights to "Thursday Night Football," making it the first streaming-only platform to air NFL games, paying about $1 billion per year.

The league had been in negotiations for some time to find a new owner for Sunday Ticket. Apple, Amazon, and Disney's ESPN were among interested bidders for the package at one point or another, CNBC previously reported.

YouTube TV is an internet bundle of broadcast and cable networks that mirrors a traditional linear pay-TV operator. Its base plan costs $64.99 a month. In July, Google announced YouTube TV surpassed 5 million customers, including trial subscriptions.

In recent months, YouTube TV emerged as a strong contender for the rights, given it could provide a lot of what the league was hoping to achieve with a new Sunday Ticket partner – a technology platform with a large balance sheet and global reach, and the ability to support bundled legacy TV.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said the league was pushing for Sunday Ticket to end up on a streaming service. "I think that's best for consumers at this stage," Goodell previously told CNBC.

For a time, it seemed Apple was close to attaining the rights. The company has been expanding its sports footprint for its Apple TV+ streaming service. It recently inked a 10-year deal with Major League Soccer that begins in 2023, and last year began airing Friday night Major League Baseball games.

However, discussions broke down due to existing restrictions around the Sunday Ticket rights, and Apple had wanted more flexibility with how to distribute the package, CNBC previously reported.

Amazon had also been considered another top contender, considering it already airs "Thursday Night Football" games and is a streaming-only platform.

While those contests primarily air on Prime, DirecTV distributes the games commercially, in bars, restaurants, hotels and retailers. The two reached a multi-year deal before the season started. DirecTV is interested in delivering Sunday Ticket games in a similar capacity, people familiar with the matter have said.